Men's Cross Country Team Finishes Eighth at Regionals

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James Ortiz led the Bobcats to an eighth place finish as the Regional meet last Saturday.
 
James Ortiz led the Bobcats to an eighth place finish as the Regional meet last Saturday.
 
 
Senior James Ortiz finished 35th as the Bobcats finished eighth as a team at the NCAA Division I South Central Cross Country Regionals at Baylor last Saturday.

Ortiz, from Uvalde, Texas, was Texas State's top runner while his teammates Alex Escontrias (44th), Roel Elizalde (46th), Frankie Flores (52nd), Javier Prado (53rd) and Francisco Avelar (82nd) rounded out the Bobcat scoring contingent.

All Texas State competitors, with the exceptions of Ortiz and Flores, are freshman. Flores is in his junior season with the Bobcats.

The Bobcats finished better than SLC teams from Sam Houston State (11th), McNeese (13th) and Lamar, while Stephen F. Austin landed in fifth place.

Assistant coach Greg Zarate was pleased with the way the young crew competed at regionals.

"Finishing eighth in this region, which has powerhouses such as Arkansas, Texas, and Texas A&M is quite an accomplishment and I can't remember a team finish this high in quite some time," he said, "We definitely went out there and competed the way we needed to compete."

Arkansas won the meet as four of Razorback runners finished in the top ten. Westly Keating, representing Texas-Pan American, won the individual title with a time of 29:30.75.